SUSTAINABLE

ARCHITECTURAL
SOLUTIONS
NAME:MAIMOONA ZAHEER
CMS ID:42588
SUBJECT:AD 5
SEMESTER:7TH
SUBMITTED TO: MAAM AZRA ALVI
SUSTAINABLR ARCHITECTURAL SOLUTIONS

• Sustainability has become an integral aspect of contemporary architectural

design.
• As climate change becomes an increasingly pressing concern, so too does the
need to create sustainable buildings that offer minimal environmental impact and
maximum human comfort.
• Sustainable considerations such as energy efficiency and water management are
now regulated under national and state building codes, allowing today’s
architects to conserve resources and materials and construct dwellings that work
with their natural surroundings rather than against them.
• Sustainable design and construction elements can be categorised according to
the three pillars of sustainability.
• Environmental
• Social and economic.
• Environmentally sustainable: Environmentally sustainable buildings attempt to
minimize a building’s environmental impact through energy and water efficiency
methods, use of sustainable materials and landscaping that considers a site’s
biodiversity and existing natural features.
• specific environmental design and construction factors include the following:
• Energy
• Design elements such as double-glazed windows for insulation, roof vents that
allow hot air to escape, window shading, a light-colored roof to reflect heat and a
hot water system located as close as possible to areas where hot water is needed
can all improve a building’s energy efficiency.
• Material
• Constructing a sustainable building means using appropriate materials in the
most efficient way possible. This could mean using recycled materials, avoiding
on-site construction waste and creating elements such as run-off to waterways.
• Landscaping & site impact
• Effective landscaping involves working with rather than against a building’s natural
surrounds—for example, retaining existing vegetation, landscaping in a way that
requires minimal maintenance and water and creating an environment that allows
local plants and wildlife to flourish.
• Socially sustainable buildings are designed
and constructed to address their occupants’
and visitors’ needs. They offer a healthy,
comfortable, safe and secure environment
that’s easily accessible and well suited to its
surroundings.
• Specific social design and construction factors
include the following:
• Health & comfort
• The people living or working in a sustainable
building should feel comfortable there, which
means having access to an appropriate
amount of space, privacy, ventilation and
natural light. If the longer walls of a building
face north, sun exposure is minimised during
summer and maximized during winter.
• Safety & security
• Buildings should be designed and constructed to lower the potential for accident
and injury—for example, using material non-combustible and low-formaldehyde
and low-VOC paint and ensuring that entryways and pathways are easily accessible
and well lit. Security fixtures and fittings could include equipment such as sensor
lights and alarm systems.
• Economically sustainable buildings:
• Economically sustainable buildings: offer long- term financial savings thanks to
energy-efficient design features, materials and appliances that keep ongoing
running and maintenance costs low.
• Specific economic design and construction factors include the following:
• Construction costs
• During the design process, factors such as building size and materials should be
considered in terms of their cost effectiveness. Where possible, using local or
recycled materials during the construction process can help lower costs and lead to
long-term cost efficiency.
• Running costs
• Once a building is constructed, its ongoing maintenance costs are an important
factor. A building that’s been designed with sustainability in mind—i.e. using
passive design elements and sustainable materials, fixtures and fittings such as
solar panels and dual-flush toilets—will have lower ongoing maintenance costs due
to reduced reliance on artificial light or climate control.
When designing public buildings with sustainability in mind, architects use the
following top five sustainable architecture strategies:

1. Passive Sustainable Design:

Passive strategies, such as considering sun orientation and climate when siting
and being thoughtful about window placement and operation, are used to best
manage daylighting and natural ventilation and go a long way in reducing energy
requirements for the building. In certain climates, thermal mass techniques can
be used to harness solar energy. In such cases, thick walls absorb heat from the
sun during the day and release it into the building at night.
• 2. Active Sustainable Design. Architects
consult with mechanical and electrical
engineers to implement high-efficiency
electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and other
systems, which are designed to have small
environmental footprints.
• 3. Renewable Energy Systems. Renewable energy systems, including those that
harness solar and wind energy, are also great options for some buildings. These
systems are often used in conjunction with passive design strategies.
• Storm water Management:
• When rain falls on an untouched site, the
water that doesn’t evaporate absorbs back
into the ground, replenishing the natural
water table. However, when a building is
placed on the site, along with parking lots,
sidewalks, access roads, and other
hardscaping, rainfall behaves differently.
The water runs off these surfaces and into
storm drains. By implementing stormwater
management strategies, such as pervious
pavement that helps to reduce runoff and
retention ponds that capture runoff and
slowly release water back into the ground,
the negative environmental impact of
buildings can be reduced.
• SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
• Building and accommodating for future climates is an ongoing challenge and one
that is being approached in a variety of ways. From floating buildings to creating
self-sufficient homes, the global population has a growing range of sustainable
living options available.

• However, for truly long-term, sustainable living solutions, architecture must

surpass carbon neutrality and embrace carbon negative, or climate positive,
approach of removing more carbon from the atmosphere than is produced.
Leading innovations such as Powerhouse Brattørkaia in Norway prove that you do
not need a permanently warm, sunny climate to be energy positive.

• Designs like these could help to mitigate the damage caused by deforestation and
the rise of carbon emissions. Combined with smart sensors to allow for automatic
monitoring and regulation of energy and water consumption, this could well
represent the cities of the future.
• 1. THE WORLD’S NORTHERNMOST
ENERGY-POSITIVE BUILDING
• Powerhouse Brattørkaia, in Trondheim,
Norway, is an energy-positive office that
is now the most sustainable building to
date. The office, measuring 18,000 sq m
(193,750 sq ft), was designed by
architecture collaborative Snøhetta.
• The building uses a variety of different
technologies to radically reduce energy
use in its daily operations. These include
a heat pump system, collecting
rainwater for use in toilets, and using
seawater from the nearby fjord for
heating and cooling.
 • 2. PLANS FOR A SMART FOREST CITY IN MEXICO

Italian architect Stefano Boeri has

created plans for a new, eco-efficient
forest city in Cancun, Mexico. The
Smart Forest City Cancun is designed
to accommodate 130,000 residents
in plant-covered housing, along with
a centre for advanced scientific
research.

The plan calls for the 557-hectare site

to contain more than 7.5 million
plants, capable of absorbing 116,000
tons of carbon dioxide each year.
• 3. SUSTAINABLE, HIGH-QUALITY HOMES FOR LOW-INCOME PEOPLE IN
LAS VEGAS
California startup Geoship is aiming to
change the construction industry
through its use of bioceramic domes.
Obtained from wastewater, the
bioceramics are largely phosphate-based
and self-adhesive. When combined, they
form domed buildings that resemble
footballs.

The tiles are energy-efficient, quick to

install and naturally repellent to insects
and other pests. The dome shape makes
it highly resilient to natural disasters,
including earthquakes, floods and
hurricanes. As a result, the homes
should last more than 500 years. Costs
range from around €50,000 for the
smallest building to €250,000 for the
largest one.
 • . ARCTIC THERMAL BATHS POWERED BY WASTE FROM CRUISE SHIPS
June Tong, an Architecture student from The Royal
College of Art in London, developed a proposal for an
arctic-based thermal bath powered by the waste from
cruise ships. The project, “In Murky Waters,” was
designed for a small coal-mining town in
Longyearbyen, Norway.
The town, once dependant on coal-powered energy as
a main economic driver, now relies on cruise-based
tourism. However, cruise ships also take a significant
environmental toll, as the waste they expel
contributes to the melting of Arctic ice.
The idea is that thermal baths will help create a
“green Arctic experience” for tourists. Guests will be
able to enjoy thermal baths that are powered by
waste from the same cruise ships that transport them.
Arctic bathing will allow towns, such as the one in
Longyearbyen, to continue benefiting from the
income provided by Arctic tourism without the
downside of ice melting.
• 5. GREEN BUILDING TO INCLUDE 400,000 PLANTS ON ‘LIVING WALL’
Architecture firm Shephard Robson
unveiled plans to cover a new building with
“the largest living wall in Europe.” Citicape
House will be constructed on the site of
the newly-established Culture Mile in the
City of London and will include office and
event space, a hotel, restaurant and a
publicly-accessible roof terrace.

The building will be wrapped in a façade

made up of more than 400,000 plants. The
façade will also incorporate a rainwater
collection system that will irrigate the wall
and reduce the need to pipe excess water
to the site. At roof level, there will be
spaces designed to help threatened native
wildflower species to flourish.
 • 6. MANHATTAN POP-UP BISTRO MADE FROM 100 PER CENT
RECYCLABLE MATERIALS
The Zero Waste pop-up Bistro, made entirely
from recycled and recyclable materials, was
commissioned by The Finnish Cultural Institute
in New York. The design was carried out by Harri
Koskinen and Linda Bergroth and displayed
during the WantedDesign Fair. It has also won a
Sustainability Award at the Frame Awards in
Amsterdam.

The Bistro was built entirely from recycled food

packaging. The furnishings and tableware were
also 100 per cent recyclable and came from a
variety of partners, predominantly iconic Finnish
styles that were selected based on their
sustainability.